The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Having previously decimated the protections the FourthAmendment accords to the home itself, United States v.Lemus, 596 F.3d 512 (9th Cir. 2010) (Kozinski, C.J., dissentingfrom the denial of rehearing en banc); United States v.Black, 482 F.3d 1044 (9th Cir. 2007) (Kozinski, J., dissentingfrom the denial of rehearing en banc), our court now proceedsto dismantle the zone of privacy we enjoy in the home’s curtilageand in public. The needs of law enforcement, to whichmy colleagues seem inclined to refuse nothing, are quicklymaking personal privacy a distant memory. 1984 may havecome a bit later than predicted, but it’s here at last.

And the conclusion:

I don’t think that most people in the United States wouldagree with the panel that someone who leaves his car parkedin his driveway outside the door of his home invites peopleto crawl under it and attach a device that will track the vehicle’severy movement and transmit that information to totalstrangers. There is something creepy and un-American aboutsuch clandestine and underhanded behavior. To those of uswho have lived under a totalitarian regime, there is an eeriefeeling of déjàvu. This case, if any, deserves the comprehensive,mature and diverse consideration that an en banc panelcan provide. We are taking a giant leap into the unknown, andthe consequences for ourselves and our children may be direand irreversible. Some day, soon, we may wake up and findwe’re living in Oceania.

The Southern District of Florida blog is authored by David Oscar Markus, who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.